HL Deb 13 February 1963 vol 246 cc981-3

2.49 p.m.

LORD BOSSOM

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they would consider setting up an authoritative committee of informed but unofficial people to look at London and suggest where no buildings beyond a certain height should be erected, and also to suggest areas where buildings of unlimited height could be constructed.]

THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (LORD HASTINGS)

My Lords, as my noble friend Lord Jellicoe informed the noble Lord, in reply to a similar Question on April 3, 1962, my right honourable friend the Minister of Housing and Local Government does not think that the establishment of a committee of this nature would serve a useful purpose. Expert advice is already available from the Royal Fine Art Commission. But the ultimate responsibility for decisions on planning applications must remain a matter for the local planning authority or, in the last resort, the Minister.

As has also been stated in the past, my right honourable friend considers that applications relating to high buildings must be considered on their individual merits, and that it is not practicable either to define areas where height limitations should be imposed, or where buildings of unlimited height could be constructed. As the London County Council have now adopted revised criteria in considering applications for planning permission for high buildings, my right honourable friend considers it reasonable to allow experience to be gained in the working of the new standards.

LORD BOSSOM

My Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that Answer, may I ask him whether he is aware that this principle which is enunciated in my Question has been adopted with great success in many towns in America and in a great many capitals here in Europe? Are we beyond the position of taking advice from people who have suffered already and who have gained by what they have done?

LORD HASTINGS

My Lords, we are not beyond taking advice, and we are certainly in touch with developments on the Continent and in the United States of America.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, could the noble Lord say, in answer to this Question, how he decided who were meant by "informed but unofficial people", and will he make it quite clear that there is no suggestion that official people are uninformed?

LORD HASTINGS

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his last remark and I thoroughly endorse that. I understand Lord Bossom's Question to mean people who are not connected directly with Government.

LORD BOSSOM

My Lords, while recognising that official people have, as a rule, very definite ideas before they sit on such a committee, the gentlemen I should like him to consider are, for example, one man from the Royal Academy of Arts, one man from the Royal Institute of British Architects, one from the Royal Society of Arts—a group like that, with no affiliation and with open minds. I believe I am right in saying that all the items, about which the noble Lord spoke just now are individual buildings and not areas, which is what I am dealing with in this Question.

LORD HASTINGS

My Lords, I think the noble Lord's point really refers to a wider Question put by him two or three weeks ago. It is not confined only to high buildings, and the question of appointing an unofficial committee. It is very difficult to answer that point briefly, in question and answer, and it might even be suitable if the noble Lord wished to put it down as an Unstarred Question. I feel that I could produce some quite weighty arguments as to why such a committee would lead to solutions even less satisfactory to the noble Lord than the present system.

LORD BOSSOM

My Lords, while again thanking my noble friend for that invitation, of which I will certainly take advantage, is he aware that the Royal Fine Art Commission have been overruled? Although they have criticised other decisions in the past, they have been overruled by other authorities.

LORD HASTINGS

My Lords, I am aware of that, but I am not sure that my noble friend is aware of the number of occasions when my right honourable friend has reached decisions on appeal which are completely satisfactory to the noble Lord.